The Plans We Make xformerly,LifeinCollegeorNotx
by QuantumLevi
Summary: The Winter War is over, and Ichigo has decided that he will go back to normal life as a human, and take over the family business one day. That was his plan anyway.... Rated T for strong language, violence, and suggestive moments.
1. Chapter 1

"It's a whole lot harder to make excuses in college than it was in high school, isn't it Ichigo?"

The two of them were running back to class after fending off the Gillian that had just come in from Hueco Mundo. They were each wearing a black kimono, the uniform of a Soul Reaper. Her black hair was in the same style she always had it in, with the one streak coming down between her eyes. The headmaster had tried to make him die his hair a more normal color, but he wouldn't have it. The threat of two of their better students withdrawing and taking their money with them over a hair color was not a pretty song coming to their ears, so they agreed to let him keep his hair the way it was if he could prove that it wasn't just a form of rebellion. His father coming in was enough for them.

"I told you that you don't have to come, you know. We both know that you don't really have anything to learn of any use from medschool. Isn't that true, Rukia?"

"No, it's not," she explained. "I can learn tons of stuff from college, medschool or otherwise. I mean, it's not like I've been to college before. I've never even been to high school, or any school for that matter before I came here. I died as an infant."

"Oh yeah, that's right." He laughed. "So that's why you were so insistent on coming with me."

"Well, I didn't quite feel like being a buisness owner like Ishida-san, and I didn't really want to live with Inoue-chan either. She eats the strangest stuff.... I still don't know where Sado-san went to. He just kind of left without even knowing where he was going himself."

Ichigo seemed lost in thought. "Yeah, he said that he felt he needed to find out what he wanted to do as a job in his life. I wonder if he's figured it out yet. Maybe we should contact everyone and set up a get together or something. We haven't seen them in over a year."

"Hey, that's a great idea! Winter break is coming up soon, and we can have a party!"

"Sounds fun. Maybe we could get Yuzu to help cook us up a feast."

"This is great," Rukia mused. "But you know we'll probably have to invite your whole family if Yuzu is cooking, and you know your dad will try to seriously injure you at least a few times."

"Yeah, that's probably true, but I think I can keep him off of me without breaking anything now."

They ran in silence for a few minutes thinking about when to hold the party and what to do with it. Some time later Rukia asked, "Hey, Ichigo. You never did tell me why you decided to go to medical shcool."

"Oh, I guess I didn't. I really decided to go here because it was in Karakura Town, and if I learned medicine, then I could take over my fathers buisness once he was done. But when I got to thinking about it, I'm glad that I chose to be a doctor, because I've always been saving souls, but I've never actually saved any lives that were still living, you know? I mean, sure I helped my dad out every once in a while, but that was just stuff like, go get some ice or I need this out of the storeroom or help me carry this guy in. I've never actually saved any of them. But this way, I can help both the souls that are running from hollows, and the people that shouldn't have to yet. Now I really can be the #1 guardian." He smiled, knowing that it was a good cause.

"You really are a kind man, Ichigo. Even if you put out that rough appearence, you really love helping people."

He laughed. "Yeah, well, I try. But right now, we've gotta get back in the mindset of medstudents. We're almost there."

*****

Ichigo walked into the appartment as Rukia was hanging up the phone. It was a small place, two bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen that also served as a dining room, and a living room. It had two bedrooms, even though one was rarely used. Ichigo could never understand why, but Rukia still preferred to sleep in his closet. The phone was on the counter in the kitchen.

"So? How'd it go?" he asked her as he set his things on the shabby brown couch in the living room.

"Sado-san said he'd come, and he wants to bring a friend, so I said okay. Inoue-chan is coming too, and Ishida-san said that he wants to come, but he'll have to get back to us."

"That sounds just like Uryuu. He probably has to ask his father since he made that vow. Although, since it's just a friendly meeting, there shouldn't be any problems."

"Well that's good to hear. It looks like everyone will be able to come after all. I wonder who this friend of Sado-san's is."

"Did he say anything about him?"

"Not really, just that we should let them come. And how do you know it's a guy? Don't you think that Sado-san could get a girlfriend?"

Ichigo smiled as if it were a funny joke. "It's not that Rukia. I just think that Chad doesn't really think that we'd need to see a girlfriend of his in order to approve. He should know that if he were interested in someone, we'd tell him to go for it. So I don't think that it's going to be a girl, because he'd be more worried about getting another person involved if they couldn't help us. Hey, who knows, maybe Chad found another person that CAN help us."

Rukia thought about the possibility. "Hmm, it could be, but I don't know. Let's just wait to find out." She walked over to the couch and sat down, moving Ichigo's things to the other side. "Hey, Ichigo?"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Why DO you call Sado-san Chad?"

"Oh, that? I dunno, he just looks like a Chad. Why do you call him Sado-san?"

She was a little confused about the question. "What do you mean, why? Because that's his name."

"Well yeah, but that's not what I meant. We've been friends for more than three years, why are you still adding on the suffix? Isn't he a close enough friend to not need it anymore?"

"I don't know. I guess so, but I just suppose that I don't want to offend him."

"Rukia, we've been friends for over three years, and we've risked our lives for each other. I don't think that dropping the pretenses will offend any of them. Probably not even Uryuu. Even Hitsugaiya is starting to not care anymore."

"I guess you're right. Thanks Ichigo."

Ichigo started laughing so loudly and suddenly that it took Rukia off guard. "What's so funny?" she shouted, slightly annoyed that she had just thanked him, and now here he was laughing as if she had said something hysterical.

"It's just that," he got out between fits of laughter, "there's really not anything to thank me for. Why are you thanking me?" He smiled, trying to think of a way to make her understand. "I didn't do anything. I just told you that there's not much of a point in using the honorifics anymore."

Rukia groaned. "You never understand anything. I was grateful because you told me that we were all close enough friends to be able to call each other our names without the added politeness. You, on the other hand, never even use them in the first place!"

"It's no big deal," Ichigo countered. "I don't care if anyone else calls me by my name."

"It is a big deal, you idiot!" Rukia yelled. "My brother gets pissed off whenever you call him Byakuya."

"Yeah, well, it's not like you can ever tell with him," he mumbled.

"Ichigo!" Rukia was in shock. "How could you say that?"

"What? Why wouldn't I say it? Because I'm afraid that he would make me pay for it? Or because you don't think that I could be so disrespectful? Besides, it's true. He never shows any emotion at all. He's always just going around with that stupid monotone voice of his trying to criticize me, and you know what? I don't really care anymore. If he ever got so mad at me that he actually did try to kill me, I would win. So for him to even try would be stupid."

Rukia still didn't know how to believe it, but he was right. As strong and as powerful as her brother was, Ichigo was far more so. He had defeated him when he had first achieved bonkai. It was true that he almost died, and would have except for some reason that neither of them tell her yet, but he had won. And Ichigo's power had grown exponentially since then. Other than Head Captain Yamamoto, there wasn't a single captain that could stand up to Ichigo if he was really trying to kill them. Most of them couldn't stand a chance even if he wasn't trying to. But all of this was beside the point. He had insulted her brother on a whim.

"Is that really the way that you think of him, Ichigo?"

Ichigo could see that he'd done something terribly wrong, and he was pretty sure of what it was. "Not really," he admitted. "I'm just saying that if that's what it came down to, then that's how it would end. But that voice of his still gets annoying sometimes."

"Ichigo!" Her tone had changed; now it was more like the voice she used when she was scolding him for some idiocy that he had said or done.

"Oh, come on!" he laughed. "I was just kidding!"

*****


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay guys, I forgot to put the disclaimer up in the first chapter, and then realized that I couldn't edit it in after I posted the chapter, so here it is.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the anime/manga, "Bleach". I also do not own any of the characters that belong to the anime/manga, "Bleach". I do, however, own the OCs that I may create during the period of this story.**

**Okay, that works, right? I hate the stupid legal crap.**

So, simply because the people that wrote the canon for Bleach couldn't seem to decide on some stuff, I'm going to decide on/clear up a few things. For one, some people are arguing about whether or not you can remember things from your life after moving to Soul Society, because there have been cases where it says one thing clear as day, and other cases where it says the other, again, clear as day. I am going with the show in this one, because when they first come to Soul Society to save Rukia, Chad comes across the kid that was in the bird in Ep. 4. In this instance, the child remembers both his mother from life, and Chad from life in the bird. So, he did remember his life. But in "Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody" they say that it is impossible to remember one's life in the World of the Living. I choose the show's way of doing things in this matter simply based on personal preference. Also, there are some disagreements on what to call the world in which Ichigo and his friends live. I think that "the World of the Living" is more accurate than "the real world." Case and point, is Soul Society really any less real just because it is where one goes after dieing? I really don't think so. It's not like it's made from magic or illusions or anything, so it's really just as real, if that makes any sense. There are also disagreements on what happens when one dies in Soul Society. One view is that one turns into reishi and becomes a part of Soul Society's scenery, this originally said by Kaien. The other view is that one goes back to the World of the Living. These were both presented in the show, but I prefer that one goes back to the World of the Living, because this is why the Quincys were killed off. The story was that the Quincys killed the hollows, while the Soul Reapers "sanctified"/"purified" them. This was why the Quincys became nearly extinct. Because they killed the hollows, it sent the souls out of the, for lack of a better term, "circle of life" which was the cycle in which one went back and forth from the World of the Living and Soul Society. In **my preference the explanation of memories is that they remembered their lives from the World of the Living when they went to Soul Society, but not vice-versa. I'll just say that this is some kind of magic or something put in place to make it so that when they went back they wouldn't know of the Soul Reapers doings and could live normal lives. Next point: aging in Soul Society. This arguement has been conceived simply because in the show, whenever they want to make someone a child, they make them appear younger, and also because they do make some people appear to age, while others don't. They also usually make the elders all old and grey. For example, Head Captain Yamamoto looks very old, when in fact, I belive, that someone in the appearing age range of, say, Byakuya, could be much older without appearing so. This is not to say that I believe Byakuya is older, I was just giving an example. But Renji, Rukia, Byakuya, Aizen, and pretty much all of the other Soul Reapers do not appear to age at all. The only Soul Reaper that **_**did**_** appear to age was Gin, which I still can't explain. It always bothers me that Captain Hitsugaiya is continuously referred to as "the boy genius" or "the child prodigy" by people that haven't really even heard much of him before simply based on his age-appearence and rank combination. He is young for a Soul Reaper, but honestly why would an enemy that has never seen him before automatically assume that he is a child when he is, in fact, a captain? Which makes more sense; that he's a child that has somehow achieved the rank of captain because of his exceptional skill and talent, or that he is actually much older than he appears to be? Rukia has been around for 150 years and still looks like she is sixteen. On the counterexample, some of the commaners outside of Serete do age. So, in my opinion, it is only Soul Reapers that don't age. This is to make up for the fact that while not being able to age they can still die in battle and return to the World of the Living, while those who are not Soul Reapers don't see much battle, but can still die of old age, and also return to the World of the living. So, I guess it could be the power of being a Soul Reaper that keeps one from aging.**

**Another thing is that these people are Japanese and all speaking by them should be assumed to be in Japanese unless otherwise noted.**

**Okay, that was very long, but if you read it, my story will make much more sense. To the story!!!!**

Uryuu hung up the phone and walked over to the window. He had his own office now, and it was on the twelfth floor, so he had a great view of the river. It was a custom furnished job, and everything was exactly how he had wanted it. His father had paid for everything, giving him a white leather sofa with matching high backed chairs. His desk had his name engraved in it, and it was made of the finest mahogany wood. Everything in the room was put there to please him, but even so, he was never really happy here.

He hardly had the chance to get out anymore. The last time that he had gone outside for something other than business or school had been months ago. It had been even longer than that since he had gone fighting hollows. The only place that he got to use his Quincy powers was down in the training room.

He had just gotten done speaking with one of his father's buisness associates when Rukia had called. It had been a while since he had seen everyone, and it sounded like it could be fun. He just hoped his father would go for it.

He missed going out and fighting with Kurosaki and the others. He especially missed Sado and Inoue. Even though Kuchiki, Abarai, and yes, even Kurosaki were fun to hang out with, there just didn't seem to be anyone with the same abilities as him. The Soul Reapers all fought with swords and kido. At least Sado and Inoue had _something_ like the style he had. True, they weren't really all _that_ similar, but just the fact that they were using ranged attacks, too, made it seem a little bit alike. He really wished that he could have another friend that was a Quincy, but it just seemed to be fated not to happen. His father wasn't exactly the type of person that he could have a heart to heart conversation with, either.

Ishida Uryuu turned toward the door and walked out. He headed down the hallway, thinking of how he would play this out. He stopped in front of the door to his father's office for a moment before knocking.

"Come in," came the voice of his father. Uryuu walked in, and, at a hand gesture from his father, sat down across from him. "So, what are you here for?" the older Ishida questioned.

Uryuu sat for a minute, mulling over the situation in his mind. "Some friends of mine have invited me to a social gathering, and I came to ask if I could go."

His father looked slightly puzzled. "You're 19 and you live by yourself, Uryuu, why are you asking for permission to go to a party with some friends?"

Uryuu shifted in his seat. "Well...because...a couple of them...are Soul Reapers." He sat and waited for the dreaded reaction. But it didn't come.

"So what? What's your point?" he asked.

Now Uryuu was the one that was confused. "What do you mean? I thought that you wouldn't allow me to have anything to do with Soul Reapers." What exactly was going on here?

The older Ishida looked at his son with a comical expression, like he had just been told a funny joke. "Oh, come on, Uryuu. Do you really expect me to hold you to that? It's not my life, you can screw it up and make bad allies as much as you want."

Uryuu had to work hard to keep his tongue in his mouth. That last statement was almost stepping over the line. "Listen, Father. You have forbidden me to do something, and you are my father so I will not disobey. But if you think that you can insult my friends like that with no repercussions, that is a completely different story. Now, may I go or not?"

The man looked over his son quickly and rolled his eyes. "Go ahead."

"Thank you," Uryuu said through gritted teeth, slightly slamming the door behind him as he left.

*****

**Sorry guys. This was supposed to be a lot longer, but I went on vacation and I got side-tracked (is that how that's spelled? I dunno.). Again, I'm sorry. I'll do better from now on.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so that last chapter was an utter failure. Sure, it was a good scene, (at least, that's my opinion anyway) but that was really all it was; a scene. Anyway, I only say this because I'm promising to do better this time. :-) Well, this is what was supposed to go into chapter 2, but didn't quite get there in time.**

**So, without any further ado, I present to you: chapter 2 part 2!!! Okay, fine...chapter 3....**

Sado put the cell phone that he was carrying back into his pocket. The prospect of getting back together with his friends sounded like a good one. He was getting a little tired of walking around Japan continuously, day after day. Even if there was someone there to keep him company. A guy could only walk for so long, and his friend was probably getting tired of walking too.

He was starting to get an inkling of what he had wanted to do with his life, but he wasn't sure yet. This get together would be a good chance to talk to everyone, and see if they thought his idea was any good.

He wanted to go into law enforcement. He had seen far too many people hurt on his little voyage, and there was not even anyone there to comfort them for the most part. He wanted to change that. He wanted to be able to put the sick freaks that did the kinds of things that he had seen in jail. To kidnap a child, mug a complete stranger, or kill someone in cold blood was in every way shape and form, wrong.

He couldn't believe some of the things he had been witness to. It was true that whenever he saw a crime unraveling he had instantly put a stop to it. But just seeing the victims after the crime had occurred, when there was nothing that he could do about it, made some kind of extremely powerful anger well up within him like a wild beast protecting its young. He didn't know where it came from, seeing that he was naturally a very calm person, but he kind of _liked_ it. He hated the fact that he couldn't do anything but stand by helplessly, but he did know that if he wound up going into law enforcement, it would help him immensely.

He couldn't bare to stand by and watch as he saw an old man being put into an ambulance on a gurney, or watch as a white cloth was placed over a child's face as he saw who he could only guess were that child's parents crying as if the world had ended. And he knew that, for them, the world _had_ ended.

It was despicable, the things that the murderous criminals had done to their victims before, mercifully, allowing them to embrace death and peace. He also knew that half of the time, the bastards got away. He couldn't stand it.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" he heard from behind him. "You look like you're about to crush that water bottle you've got there."

Sado suddenly snapped back to reality as he realized that he was, in fact, crushing the bottle. "Sorry. I'm just thinking."

Everybody knew Sado well enough to know that when he said something, that was it. Nobody was getting anything else out of him. That was just the way it was with him. Whenever you were lucky enough to get him to say _anything_ he didn't say very much, and everyone he knew was usually okay with that...except for Keigo. "Come on," he said to his companion. "We're heading to Karakura Town."

*****

"Yeah, sure, Rukia! I'll definitely be there. Yeah, you too. Good bye." Orihime said as she hung up the phone. She sat down on the couch with a loud sigh as she took it all in. She was going to see her friends again soon. Orihime sat there for a while thinking happily to herself. The only times she really got to see any of them any more was when they got extremely hurt, which didn't happen very often anymore. _Not that that's a bad thing,_ she thought to herself. She was glad that none of her friends were getting hurt much anymore. She knew that Sado-San was gone to who knows where, Ishida-San was busy with his father's business, and Rukia and Kurosaki-Kkun were in med-school so there was no way that they had time for anything other than school, but even so, she still wished that they could visit her once in a while.

She was in college, too, and doing fairly well with herself, in her own opinion. She wasn't failing any of her classes, and had only one C so far, and that would be easily brought up. She hadn't quite decided if she was going to keep her major in Teaching yet, but she liked doing it, and was thinking she would stick with it.

Orihime looked around her apartment as she thought about what to wear and if she was going to buy something new, or just wear something she already had.

The room she was in was simple, mainly because she didn't have much money (college students usually didn't), but also because she liked to keep everything neat and tidy, which was difficult to do if she had furniture everywhere. There was the couch that she was sitting on, a small table in the kitchen, the television was sitting on the floor up against the wall opposite the sofa, and in her room was only a full sized bed (she'd picked it up cheap at a thrift store, making sure to wash it and air it out before bringing it into her home) and a desk with her computer on it for homework.

She stood up from the couch, walked into her room, and opened the closet door to inspect her wardrobe. She had a few nice clothes for special occasions, but always had a hard time deciding. She wished she could ask Tatsuki about her clothing predicament, but she had been out of town for the past couple months. That was when she remembered that she had recently gotten a picture phone for her birthday. She took out two of her favorite outfits and laid them out on her bed. She then took out her phone, took a picture of the clothing, and sent it to Tatsuki's cell phone with the message, "Which one?".

A little while later she got a message back, saying, "For what?".

Orihime let out a bit of a sigh. She had forgotten to mention that. Sure it seemed like an innocent mistake, but how could Tatsuki know what it was for? "Kurosaki-Kun and Rukia are having a get together with Ishida-San, Sado-San, and me. I want to know what I should wear." She felt a little silly as she pressed the "send" button, hoping Tatsuki wasn't laughing on the other side.

A little while later she got a message back saying, "Oh. Well in that case, the shirt with the straps and the denim skirt would be the best choice." At the end of the message was a little smiley face that was winking.

Orihime immediately sent her another message saying, "Okay! Thanks Tatsuki! You're the best!" She then took the non-chosen clothes back on a hanger and into her closet. She took the outfit Tatsuki had told her to wear, folded them up, and put them onto her desk.

She got another message unexpectedly and saw that it said, "Did you say that Chad was going to be there? I thought he was gone."

Orihime still found it a little strange that Tatsuki called Sado-San "Chad". She knew that she had gotten it from Kurosaki-Kun, but it was still odd. "Yeah, he was, but Rukia got a hold of him and asked him if he wanted to come. Why do you ask? Do you have a crush on him???" she messaged back.

She waited a little while before she got another message. "Oh, okay, that makes sense. And no, I don't have a crush on him. Let's stop that little idea in your head before it goes anywhere else. Okay, anyway, have a good time. I might be on my way back home, so maybe I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Okay, bye Tatsuki." Orihime messaged back, feeling a little disappointed. It would've been cool if Tatsuki and Chad got together. Then she'd be able to see both of them more often. _Oh well,_ Orihime thought to herself, _a girl can dream._

*****

Ichigo was walking down the street thinking about how he would talk to his family. He found himself thinking that he didn't really even want to ask his family about this, but he knew that there was no way in hell he could cook everything for all of those people without any help. At least Rukia was there with him, so that his dad wouldn't be as much of an asshole as he usually was. His dad seemed to like Rukia. Ichigo knew exactly why, too. It was because Rukia was _nice_ around him. This only because she thought he was a comical guy and wanted him to think she was all polite and everything, but that was beside the point. Hell, Ichigo's dad even thought that she was too good to be hanging around with his son.

_Who the hell thinks like that? _Ichigo thought to himself turned the corner onto the street where his old house was at. It was then that he realized that there was an ambulance by the curb in front of his house. _Oh, crap. This is just wonderful. _"Rukia?"

"Yeah?" she replied.

"Get ready."

"For what?"

"There's an ambulance in front of my house, and my dad runs a clinic there."

"Well duh. Tell me something I don't know."

"He's going to ask for our help."

"Oh." It was the only reply she needed to give for Ichigo to know exactly what she meant. It was the same thing that he had just been thinking himself.

Running to close the distance as quickly as possible, they made it to the door of his house and just barged inside. "Ichigo!" Ishin Kurosaki yelled in surprise as he saw his son fly through the door. "And Rukia! Good I can use some help with this guy."

Ichigo quickly gave Rukia a knowing look before turning to his father and asking, "What do we got?"

"Car crash," he replied. "Nothing complicated, but it could get very bad very quickly if we don't do anything. Steering wheel to the chest giving him Cardiac Tamponade. And he's unconscious. I want to see how much you guys have learned. You can handle this can't you?"

"Yeah, Dad, will do. I'll go get a needle. We just need to relieve the pressure on his heart, right?" Ichigo would've done exactly what he had just said he would too, if it hadn't been for the expression of fear on Rukia's face when she looked at the patients face.

Ichigo walked over to the man on the bed before going to get what he needed. "Oh, shit," he said quietly, stopping in his tracks. "That's Keigo."

"Who?" Ishin asked him.

"Keigo. He's a friend of mine. I can't work on him."

"_WHAT?!_" his dad asked incredulously. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Dad, you know you're not supposed to work on people you know," Ichigo stated hoping to convince him.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Ichigo looked at his father in shock. He had never even sworn in front of him, much less _at_ him.

"I don't care who it is, Ichigo. I don't even care if it's your wife in the future. You're going to sit there and tell me that you're going to let a friend of yours _die_ because of a stupid ethical disagreement? Let me tell you something. If you're the only one available to save somebody's life, and you choose not to because it's someone you know, _then you don't deserve to be a doctor._" There was so much malice in his father's voice, Ichigo thought that it was actually scary. "Now get your ass in there and get to work."

"Yes sir." There wasn't a hint of a smart-ass remark in his voice as he went to get started.

**Okay, so what did you guys think? Just who is Chad's mystery friend? Is it a guy? Or is it a girl? Unfortunately, you probably won't find out until the party, but it's okay. I guess I'll give you guys a hint...it's someone that everyone already knows. :-)**

**By the way, I thought of ending this one at the point where you realize that it's Keigo on the hospital bed, and giving you guys a really bad cliff hanger, but then I remembered that I don't like to be mean like that.**

**Also, if anyone has any questions, comments, suggestions, flames, or anything of the sort, I'd really appreciate it. Well, as long as it's not just someone saying, "Your work sucks. You should quit." I probably won't really appreciate that.... But if you say, "Your work sucks, and here's why," that would be great. Because we learn from criticism. And if anyone notices that I'm not in canon, please inform me. I really want to stay in the show's restrictions, however difficult that may prove to be. If you notice that I'm doing something out of character, again, please inform me. So just tell me about it, and we can see whether it's really uncanon or out of character, or if it's not, and someone just thought it was.**

**So, anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**

~Quantum Levi~


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